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The World Health Organisation called on countries to persevere with restrictions to tackle Covid-19, director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday, saying opening up without control of the virus would be a "recipe for disaster".

Tedros recognised that many people are getting tired of restrictions and want to return to normality after eight months of the new coronavirus.

"We want to see children returning to school and people returning to work places, but we want to see it done safely,"Tedros told a news conference.

"No country can just pretend the pandemic is over," he said."The reality is this virus spreads easily. Opening up without control is a recipe for disaster."

Germany wants to put an end to the chaotic approaches by EU member states to travel restrictions within Europe as a new wave of coronavirus cases gains momentum across the continent.

Berlin currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, which has been dominated by Europe's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

That response has often sown chaos as member states rashly went their own way to fight the virus, most damagingly by shutting borders without notice and thus wreaking havoc on the economy.

Canada reached an agreement in principle on Monday with both Novavax and Johnson & Johnson for millions of doses of their experimental coronavirus vaccines, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

Canada's two agreements follow separate deals with Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc announced weeks ago, and are the latest example of countries rushing to secure access to vaccines.

Last week, Canada's National Research Council said it had ended its partnership on a coronavirus vaccine with China's CanSino Biologics because the company lacked the authority to ship the vaccine.

Just 37.4 per cent of active personnel in the US military support President Donald Trump's re-election, while 43.1 per cent back his Democratic opponent Joe Biden, according to a new poll Monday.

The poll by the Military Times and the Syracuse University Institute for Veterans and Military Families found that half of servicemen and women have an unfavourable view of Trump, and 42 per cent strongly disapprove of him, compared to 38 per cent with a favorable view of the Republican leader.

Support for Trump fell from the previous poll in December 2019, when he had a 42 per cent favourable rating.

Hong Kong riot police used pepper spray to disperse protesters on Monday evening on the anniversary of a notorious clash during last year's pro-democracy rallies where officers were filmed beating people on a train.

Dozens of activists gathered outside Prince Edward subway station as night fell to chant pro-democracy slogans and lay flowers, but officers soon declared an illegal protest and riot police with batons and pepper ball guns arrived to break up the crowds.

Throughout the evening, they stopped and searched multiple people as pro-democracy slogans were chanted.